the hidden things of dishonesty comes to be laid open to the view of all men For the day is come and coming which reveals all things and which will prove every mans work of what sort it is And every man shall receive a reward according to his deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil Therefore all people in whom there is any fear of the Lord or any desire after the knowledge of his way or any love to his truth or to your souls peace and welfare It is high time for you to look about you and to consider your wayes what ye have beendoing and what ye are doing for the times of ignorance God hath winked at but now he calls all men every where to repent For it is not a Profession of the words now will serve you without the possession of the life for that will not be accepted of God But all to repent and turn from the evil of your wayes which ye have long been reproved for by the light of Christ Jesus in you which is Gods witnesse in all your consciences which otherwise will be your eternal condemnation for your profession of Christ will not serve you nor hide you nor your mountains nor your hills where ye have been gotten up high and looking for salvation from them but it hath been all in vaine Come down from them to Gods witnesse in you and hearken to that what that doth testifie to you for that is true and will not lye nor deceive you for that is of God and leads to God And with the Lord Jehovan alone is Salvation and with him is everlasting strength For those mountains will all fly away from you which ye now do trust in and they shall not hide you from the face of the Lamb though ye may call to them to cover you and to the Rocks to fall upon you nay though ye seek death it shall fly from you Therefore I say in time all be warned and hearken diligently that your souls may live And away with all your false and deceitful coverings which are but as so many Fig-leaves sowed together to cover your nakednesse which will not endure long and your profession will wither suddenly and your nakednesse will then appear more to your shame then if ye had made no profession at all to have that pluckt off wherewith ye have been covered all this while which made ye seem to be some body when that is gone then ye will be naked and as it were like no body and have nothing to cover your shame from the eyes of all for Christ Jesus disowns ye who are workers of iniquity and ye must depart from him and not name his Name For it s not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven saith Christ But while ye have been seeking to be justified by Christ and yet lived in sin and are found sinners ye have not been doing the will of God for thereby ye would make Christ the Minister of sin who came to destroy sin and the Devil who is the Author of it and therein he did the will of the Father and plased him And so as many as receive him and beleeve in his name to them he gives power to become the sons of God and to doe his will in earth as it is done in Heaven which ye have been praying so long and saying these words but do not beleeve in your hearts that any shall ever attain to that here which you pray for therefore it s not of faith for with the heart man beleeveth unto righteousness c. and ye are not like to recelve that which ye cannot beleeve so ye are not come to the measure of faith even as a grain of Mustard-seed for he that hath it shall say unto this Mountain be thou removed into the Sea and it shall be so saith Christ But these are all parables to all you Professors in the world unknown as it was to them to whom they were spoken then But who comes to the Light of Christ Jesus to beleeve in it they read the parables and they know the faith that removes the Mountains and brings them down and exalts the valleys and makes the crooked ways straight and the rough wayes plain and prepares the way of the Lord in the Wildernesse and make straight paths for his feet and such knows the kingdome of God to come where his will is done on sarth as in Heaven and where the daily bread is received and sins forgiven and enemies loved And Christ said to those that did not know nor beleeve If I toll ye of earthly things and ye cannot beleeve how should you beleeve if I tell you of Heavenly things John 3.12 And again I speak that which I have seen with my Father and ye speak that which ye have seen with your father John 8.39 Therefore all ye Professors of the Scriptures and Teachers of the Prophets and Christs words and the words which ye have received by tradition from your fathers It s no wonder if the things declared of by the Prophets Christ and the Saints be strange to you that ye neither know them nor can believe them seeing ye me all erred from the Spirit of the Father even that Spirit which was in the Prophets Christ and the Apostles and Saints which shews plainly of the Father and shewed them things to come which was and now is the Saints Comforter which Christ said he would send Even the Spirit of Truth which should lead them into all Truth and should bring all things to their remembrance This the Saints did receive in former times by which they did plainly declare what they had heard and what they had seen and tasted and handled of the word of life And this the Saints do now receive even the same Spirit of the Father which was in the Saints and is now in the Saints and shall be in the Saints to the end of the World as Christ said by which the Saints do now know the Scriptures which were spoken forth by the Spirit of God in the holy men of God and understand them and witnesse the thing they speake of So that they are not a Book sealed to us nor parrables to us who come to enjoy the things they speake of which is freely given to us of God as they were to them who spake forth the Scriptures as the Apostle said 1 Cor. 2.11 12 13. We have not received the spirit of this World but we have received the Spirit which is of God by which we know the things which are freely given to us of God which things we declare in the plain demonstration of the Spirit and not with words which mans wisdome teacheth comparing spirituall things with spirituall But the naturall man perceiveth not
And this we can declare forth freely unto the Nations round about which we have freely received of him even of his Spirit of truth which was the promise of the Father To lead us into all truth whereby we are come to know the Leadings of the Spirit and know that we are the Children of God and taught of God and led by his Spirit and this is it which doth comfort our hearts and assure us that we are his Children And as many as are the Sons of God the same are led by the Spirit of God as the Children of this world are led by the spirin that is of the world which is of him who is called the God of the world whose work it is to blinde the mindes of people as we were also at well as others while we were in the vaine conversation and walked according to the course of this world even the Prince of the power of the ayre that spirit which now worketh in all the Children of disobedience And they may be easily known for they are full of ayre and talke of that which they possesse not of others conditions and not their own and so have been in travell as it were but have brought forth nothing but wind have a form of godlinesse but want the power and are talking of the Spirit of God but are led by the spirit of this world and are disobedient to the manifestation of the Spirit of God which reproveth them for sin and checks them secretly when they doe evill But all who receives it and are obedient to it they know the movings of the Spirit and the teachings and leadings of the Spitit and what it is to be borne of the Spirir and what it is to live in the Spirit and to walke in the Spirit and to mortifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit and so to be quickned by the Spirit and what it is to be raysed up from the Dead with Christ by his Spirit dwelling in them Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his Therefore how can any of the Priests and Teachers and professors in the world confesse Christ come in the flesh and know not the Spirit which is of God c. Who say they have not the same Spirit that was in Christ the Apostles and Saints and say none have the same Spirit now which they had Therefore I say truly they are not like to know that Spirit who are erred from it nor confesse Christ come in the flesh who are of another spirit which not being the same must needs be the spirit of this world which is the spirit of Antichrist by which they cannot know the things of God for none knowes the things of God saving the Spirit of God neither were they like to discerne them or demonstrate them by the Spirit which they have not but are erred from it nor know the Scriptures which were given forth by the Spirit of God in the Prophets Christ and the Apostles but give their private interpretation of them and meaning which they add to them which is of no private Interpretation for the Spirit of the Lord was but one in all them that spoke them forth and them who are in the same Spirit and Life now reads them and knows them again as they were spoken and knows the Interpretation of them which is not private but publique and plaine and manifest But all who are of another spirit they are erred not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God as Christ sayd and so they neither know that which hath been spoken by the Spirit of God formerly not what the same Spirit speaketh expressely now not what the Scripture meanes where it is spoken plainly and expressely And truly it is no wonder now to see it so for people and their teachers are so farr erred from the Spirit by which the Scriptures were spoken forth that it is become a strange thing which cannot be beleeved even amongst all forts of professors who are called Christians For one to say he is moved by the Spirit of the Lord to speake or to pray or to doe any thing else as the servants of the Lord were in former times and this is become a scorne and derision amongst them which is a shame to them and doth plainly manisest what spirit they are of Now if they were Children of God or Sons of God who are led by the Spirit of God as some of th one professe themselves to be mark this diligently then must they needs know the meaning of the Spirit of God and the leadings of it otherwise it could not lead them and they not know it And they would be in the spirituall feeling and tasting and savouring and discerning of the things of God in themselves and of the fruits of the Spirit in others brought forth and try all Spirits with that and know them and love the good and not mocke and scoffe at them And so I say then it would not be a strange thing unto them if they themselves were come to know a motion or leading by the Spirit of God in themselves which would manifest that they were the Children of God and Sons of God that they were of Christ who have his Spirit and are led by it and so were true Christians and followers of Christ and this would be a true restimony to themselves and to others And then surely they neither any of you would mocke or scoffe or scorne at any who can witnesse the same But now the want of this hath caused your nakednesse appear to your shame and to the shame of all your blinde guides whom ye have so long been following for teaching who have caused you to erre by their lyes otherwise they might have brought you to have known the truth before now and to have raught you better manners then to have scoffed at it and at those who have declared it amongst you and walke in it whom you in scorne call Quakers and utter forth evill words which corrupts the good manners howsoever if it were so that we were not in the truth but in the errour and not moved by the Spirit of the Lord as ye say but erred from it then we were but where ye are Now Friends this I say and testifie in the Lord and know assuredly that my testimony is true and Gods witnesse in all your Consciences shall beare witnesse to it to be true and the Scriptures of truth will beare witnesse to the same That ye cannot say in truth whom any of you doe scoffe or scorne or mocke or reproach any of us or others that ye are moved thereunto by the Spirit of God or led unto it by the Spirit of God or taught by the Spirit of God to doe so or taught by the Scriptures to doe so which the holy men of God spoke forth which ye call your rule Neither can ye say
AN ALARUM OF TRUTH Sounded forth to the Nations OR The Way of Truth from the Way of Errour plainly Manifested and Declared And the true Worship of God which is in the Spirit from the false worships of the World distinguished Whereby people may come to know which Way they are in and what Worship they are in and what Spirit they are of and led by Whether they are in the Spirit of God which the Saints were in and now are in at this day or the spirit of this World which is the spirit of Antichrist gone out into the World which hath the words of Christ and the Saints and a forme of godliness but denyes the power where it is manifest and is turned against it and persecute it But that spirit is denyed and the true Spirit witnessed Also an invitation of love to all people and Professors of all sorts and sects to turn in their minds to the Light of Christ Jesus in them which doth reprove them for sin which is the manifestation of the Spirit of truth which is freely given that with it they may all see and try themselves and all their Teachers whom they have long followed what spirit they are of seeing they cannot say they have the same Spirit they Apostles had Written by a Friend to Truth called HENRY FELL London Prinred for Robert Wilson and are to be sold at the Sign of the Black-spread-Haâ—â—e and Windmill in Martins Le Grand 1660. To all the People and Teachers and Professors of all sorts in these Nations or elsewhere FRIENDS and People the Truth hath been declared among you and the sound of it hath been heard by you and the everlasting Gospel hath been preached and must be preached to all Nations Kindreds and Tongues that thereby the large love of God may be known and made manifest unto all mankind that he would not have any to perish but that they might all come to the knowledg of his truth that they might be saved And therefore he hath uttered forth his voyce from on high and is causing the sound of it to be heard in the Nations that all people should fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his Judgement is come and coming and his day is appearing after so long a time of darkness and night of apostacy which hath been over the face of the earth even over all Nations Kindreds and People for many ages and Generations past So that darknesse hath covered the earth and grosse darknesse the people and the way of the Lord hath been hid from them which is a straight way and a way of holinesse wherein the unclean cannot walk but they have been walking in untroden paths in crooked ways have been erred from the Lord and from his way dayes without number nor have not known it For their hearts have been filled with filthinesse and all manner of uncleannesse in so much that they have committed sin with greedinesse and followed after the vanityes of their own minds and walking after their own hearts lusts to the satisfying thereof and have been stubborn and rebellious children against the Lord in so much that the Lord hath been against them and his jealousie hath been provoked and his indignation hath been kindled against them and his wrath hath been revealed from Heaven against all ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse of men who have holden his truth in the unrighteousnesse and there hath not been peace to him that came in nor to him that went out for that which was manifested of God in them hath not been regarded therefore hath the anger of the Lord been kindled and his hand hath been stretched out still because of all the abominations that have been committed in the Nations and among the people who have professed the knowledge of his name whereby his Name hath been prophaned and blasphemed among the Heathen round about and his Truth dishonoured which they have professed in words but in works denyed and held it in the unrighteousnesse Who have not received the truth in the love of it which God hath shewed unto them nor have not obeyed it but have taken pleasure in unrighteousness therefore have they been given up to strong delusions to beleeve lyes and to commit iniquity with a high hand and rejected the truth and erred from it in their hearts and striven against it and have loved their evil deeds and their unrighteous wayes and have not chosen the way of the Lord nor served the Law of the Lord with their hearts nor with their minds but whilest they have drawn nigh unto God with their mouths and with their lips have honoured him their hearts have been removed far off from him And their fear towards him hath been taught by the precepts of men for the Precepts of God and his Commands and Law in the heart hath been disregarded and cast behind their backs And they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble and as the flame consumeth the chaffe so their root shall be rottennesse and their blossom shall ascend as the dust for behold the Lord will come with fire and with his Chariots like a whirl-wind to render his anger with fury and his rebukes with flames of fire for by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh who have corrupted their wayes before him and delighted in the thing that was not good whereby he hath been provoked to anger And now this is come to passe among all the Professions in the world who have had the Scriptures of truth which was declared and spoken forth by the Holy men of God from the Spitit of Truth which was in them and dwelt in them whereby they were made able Ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit by which they were able to try and judge of all Spirits whether they were of God and saw many in their dayes who had gotten the true words and had a form of godlinesse but denyed the power and so they turned away from such and did bear their testimony then against such whom they saw separating themselves being sensual having not the Spirit and saw such as were erred from the Spirit going in the way of Cain to envy and running greedily after the errour of Balaam for gifts and rewards and for the wages of unrighteousnesse And such as served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellyes and preached for filthy lucre and through covetousnesse with fained words made merchandize of the people and were enemies to the Crosse of Christ whose God was their belly who gloryed in their shame whose and was destruction who minded earthly things And such as had great swelling words of vanity whilest they themselves were servants of corruption and what they knew They knew naturally as bruit beasts and in those things they corrupted themselves And false Prophets there was as there shall be
false Teachers amongst you saith the Apostle who privily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and many shall follow their pernitious wayes by reason of whom the way of truth should be evil spoken of And that perillous times should come that men should be lovers of themselves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traytors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God 2 Timothy 3. Now all those before mentioned were and are erred from the Spirit of truth which was in the Saints the holy-men of God who spake forth the Scriptures which declares of these things that there was such then and that there should be such Therefore now behold all People and see whether the things which the Apostles prophecyed of concerning the false Teachers which should come be not come to passe abundantly in the Generations since their dayes and also in this our age insomuch as the whole world hath been deceived by them and led after them and they have drawn them into many Religions Sects and Opinions and set them to kill and murther one another about Religion and about the Scriptures and about their worships and Laws to compel men to them being all erred from the Spirit and from the Truth and now know not the Truth nor the Spirit which was in the Apostles and Saints in which Spirit they worshipped God in their dayes and those then that got Christs words and the Prophets words and had not his Spirit but were arred from it and were out of the Life and out of the Truth which they did professe in words These I say the Saints and true Christians who were followers of Christ and had his Spirit with it they tryed the spirits of the other who had it not and found them not to be of God nor to be beleeved nor received but turned from for they were false Spirits and false Prophets which were gone out into the world from Christ and from the Saints that had the Spirit of God in them by which they tryed the other and found them to be of the world and Antichrists in the spirit of this world and by it led which cometh from him who is called The god of this world who had blinded their minds And so they were not true Prophets or Seers or true Ministers of Christ nor true Teachers but false Teachers false Ministers false Prophets and Antichrists and blind guids gone out into the world in the worlds Spirit and so with that spirit they could not confesse Christ come in the flesh though in words they might say he was come in the flesh as all the Priests and Professors who are called Christians do now at this day in words confesse him but not with the Spirit confesse him as their fruits make it manifest Now saith the Apostle hereby know ye the Spirit of God Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God And every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ as come in the flesh is not of God and this is the spirit of Antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come and even now already is in the world Ye are of God little children and have over come them because greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world They are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us Hereby know me the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of Error John 1.4 1 2 3 4 5 6. verses Now if those had not had Christs words and confessed him in words to be come in the flesh while they were out of his life and of another spirit then the Apostle would not have called them Antichrists and Prophets and Teachers but he would have called them Jews or Gentiles or Heathers but this was it which did differ them from the Jews and unbelieving Gentiles and Heathers then Namely They had the words of Christ and the Saints and the Prophets and did professe them as the Priests and Teachers and Professors do now the Scriptures but are erred from the life of Christ and from the Spirit that was in the Saints who gave forth the Scriptures as they were then whom John speakes of erred from the life and Spirit of Christ and the Saints and so were Antichrists and false Prophets and false Teachers and Deceivers which were gone out into the World from the Saints life and Spirit and so the World heard them as they doe now the Priests and false Teachers and they drew people after them then from the Saints the true Church and so set up false Churches and Religions in the World and false worships in imitation of the true Church and true Religion and true worship of God which is in the Spirit and so by this means deceived people then at the first and scattered them from God and led them into confusion and darknesse and disorder and errour and so they broke out into many Sects and Opinions and Religions and wayes of Worship being once gone from the true Worship which is in the Spirit of God alone in which the unity is where this is wanting there cannot be unity nor gathering unto God nor true worship of God And so after the Apostles decease they being erred from the true Spirit who did professe themselves to be gatherers could not gather unto God but did draw people more and more from God and so the whole world went after the false Prophets and false Teachers And these were the grievous Wolves which entered and scattered the Flock which the Apostle spoke of before which should come and Christs words were fulfilled who said He that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth So he that is not with Christ but is against him the same is Antichrist he that gathereth not with him but scattereth there is the grievous Wolfe that scattereth the Flock and spoyles the Sheep of the Lords pasture and makes havock of them And such are all they now at this day who are called Ministers and have been accounted gatherers and Divines and are called Orthodox men but are found to be Wolves in Sheeps cloathing who doe scatter the Flock and make havock of the Sheep of Christ and spoyle their goods and cast into Prison and whip and stock and cut off eares and wound and hang and banish c. and cause people to hayle them before Magistrates and stone and beat them knock them downe in streets for dead and haile out of the Synagogues and Steeple-houses and reproach and scoffe and scome and speake all manner of evill falsely against them who are true Christians that not only confesse Christ come in flesh in words but also in works and walke in that
the things of God for they are foolishnesse to him neither can he receive them because they are spiritually discerned And so with this Spirit which we have receiv'd of God the Father the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ doe-we speaks of the things of God which we have seen with him by which Spirit the Saints are now led to declare forth the Truth to the world as it is revealed in them from the Father of spirits as the Children of God did formerly by the same Spirit who said As many as are the Sons of God the same are led by the Spirit of God And so now it is as every one hath received the Gift of the Father so to minister to others and according to the abillity which God hath given from whence every good and perfect Gift doth come from the Father of lights with whom is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning And this we know and declare that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his which is the gift of the Fathers love and he that hath it hath received it freely from the Father from whence every good and perfect gift doth come Mark Who receives a gift from God they receive that which is perfect that which is heavenly that which is free and that which comes from the Father of Lights and so with that they see and know and can freely declare of the things of God of the heavenly things of that which is perfect of that which is holy of that which is true of that which sins not of that which is born of God which overcomes the World as the Saints did of old who said hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 John 4.13 No otherwise can any one know him now truly but by his Spirit which quickens and makes alive unto God For it is life eternall to know thes the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent saith the Saints and herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldnesse in the day of the Lord for as he is so are we in this present World And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding and we know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternall life and this we have not of our selves but this we have freely received from God as the Saints had and this we freely declare and testifie to the world as they did that so others might come to receive of the same from him in whom the fullriesse of the God-head dwells of whose fullnesse have we all recelved and grace for grace And so we have nothing to boast of or glory in of our selves for it is by grace which is the free Gift of God that we are what we are that no flesh might glory in his sight but that all the Honour and the Praise and the Glory might be given unto God alone from whence every good and perfect gift cometh And now Oh all ye Priests and Teachers and Professors unto whom these things seemes strange which we declare of so that ye cannot beleeve them but get up into rage and envy against us to persecute and reproach us and speak all manner of evill falsely against us as your forefathers did the Scribes and Pharisees who were Hypocrites against Christ and the Saints in former times who did declare of those things then which the blind guides did not know nor could beleeve and therefore did they persecute them and haile them before Magistrates and cast them into Prisons and put them to death though the things which the Saints did declare were true and the same which Moses and the Prophets the holy men of God had declared of which should come to passe and so did come to passe according to their words yet now the Scribes and Pharisees and Jewes who had the words of Moses and the Prophets and were the greatest Professors of Religion then that were in the World they having the words but being out of the power out of the Life of Abraham and Moses and the Prophets that declared those things by the Spirit of God these I say being erred from the Spirit did not know the things which the holy men of God did foretell of to come The holy thing which was to be borne which is called the Son of the living God and when he was come they did unto him as they listed crucified the Lord of Life because they knew him not Though they said they were Abraham's children and knew God and were Moses Disciples and were called Jewes and rested in the Law and made their boasts of God and that they knew his Will and did approve of the things that are more excellent and were confident that they themselves were guides to the blind and a light to them that are in darknesse and Instructers of the foolish and Teachers of babes which had the forme of knowledge and of the truth in the Law Thou therefore saith the Apostle that teachest another teachest thou not thy selfe c. All these were untaught themselves though they were teachers of the Law they were Transgressors of the Law and when Christ Jesus came who was the substance the holy Seed the end of the Law who fullfilled it and brought in everlasting righteousness who was the Way to God the Truth and the Life they knew him not but slew him And so it is at this day the Professors of the World who only have the name of Christians persecute them that are in the true Christians life and nature for they were blind Leaders of the blind as Christ told them and that they were of their father the Devill who was a lyar and a Murderer from the beginning for whom God hath sent him ye beleeve not but seeke to kill him And so though they had the true mens words and the righteous mens words and the just mens words yet they were erred from their Spirit and therefore they knew not the just and righteous One and Holy one of Israel but were in the murtherous spirit and in the lying spirit which is of the Devill who did not abide in the truth and in the envious spirit and in the persecuting spirit which is not of God as all ye Priests and Professors are found in at this day which spirit I say is not of God nor received of God For the fruits of Gods Spirit is Love Meeknesse Gentlenesse Patience Long-suffering Charity c. But the fruits of your spirit is the contrary as the fruits of theirs was coutrary who persecuted the Saints in former times as the Scriptures declares and plainly makes manifest And so now ye come to be tryed and seen and manifest and declared against by the same Spirit as was in
that scoffing and scorning and repsoaching and persecuting is the fruits of the Spirit of God But on the contrary it is the fruits of that spirit in you which lusteth to envy which is of the Envious one the enemy of all mankinde the Devill who was a lyar a murtherer from the beginning out of the truth And so it is he that moves some to murther now and some to accuse falsly for he is the accuser of the Brethron and he moves some to persecute and to hate and to cast into prisons now those that live in the truth and bear witnessetoit and he moves others to scoffe and scorn and speak all manner of evill of them that are good now in these dayes as he did of old He it was that led Cain to murther his Brother Abell who was a righteous man and it was he who moved Ishmaell to mock at Isaac who was the Son of promise and it was he the Devill that moved the Scribes and Pharisees to say that Christ had a Devill and that he cast out Devills through Belzebub c. and led them to persecute Christ and put him to death and Judas to betray him and the High Priests and the rest to spit upon him and smite him and Crown him with thornes and mock at him and to say haile King of the Jewes and to cry to have him crucified and Barrabas to be released who was a Robber Now here are some of the fruits of that spirit which is not of God nor of Christ Jesus but is against God and against Christ Jesus And the Scripture saith Be not ye mockers lest your bonds be made strong and the Scriptures speaks of some who mocked the Messengers of God and despised those whom he sent to warn them till his wrath broke out upon them to destroy them now they that did so were not mov'd led by the Spirit of God but by the evill spirit which is of the Devil Therefore now all people try and examine your selves and see what Spirit ye are of and what Spirit ye are led by by the fruites which ye bring forth For this I say and know and testifie that there is no people upon the face of the earth but they are either of the good Spirit or of the evill Spirit that is they are either led by the Spirit of God or by the Spirit of the Devill and this is that which doth nearly concern all people to know which of these they are led by which they may know by the fruits which they bring forth for that is it which doth and will make it manifest plainly even as a Tree doth manifest it selfe what it is whether good or evill by the fruit it brings forth for the fruit doth come from the sap and vertue or as I may say the spirit and life that is in the Tree which comes from the Root of it and ground in which it stands Now the Scripture saith A good Tree bringeth forth good fruit and again If the Root be holy so are the Branches then the fruit is good there is the good Tree but now if the root be rotten or corrupt which stands in the cursed ground then the branches will be rotten and corrupt the fruit will be evill or none at all and there is the corrupt Tree which is to be hewen down and cast into the fire and burned for it is good for nothing else And there is the plant which must be plucked up which Christ saith the Father hath not planted for its a degenerate plant Now people these Parables are true therefore learn to read them and understand them with the Light that Christ Jesus hath enlightned you withall who spake them forth unto the World who is the Gift of the Fathers love unto the World whom he hath sent a Light into the World that all men through the Light may beleeve which they that did beleeve in him who is the Light he said unto them it was given to know the Mistery of the Kingdoms of God but unto the World who did not then beleeve in him they were Parables and are so still to this day Now the Light which Christ Jesus hath enlightned you withall is the Gift of God to you and the manifestation of his Spirit which is given to you and his grace which hath appeared unto you all which brings salvation therefore receive it and beleeve in it and be obedient to it and so you will come to know the Misteries of the Kingdome and to understand all the Parables which Christ spake to the World know the Key of David which opens and none shuts and shuts and noman opens otherwise ye will all remame in the dark World still which loves not the Light but doth choose darkness rather and they will remaine Parables to you still and ye will be shut up in the unbelief and in the darkness the Light will be your Condemnation for ever Therefore in true love I exhort you all to consider in time oh all ye People Professors and Prophane that ye may escape that eternall condemnation and Judgment which will come upon all the World of Unbeleevers and ungodly men who doe not beleeve in the Light of Christ Jesus who is come a Light into the World but slight it and hate it and say it is not sufficient to lead to Christ and to lead to salvation which reproves you for sin and for your evill deeds that ye might be turned from sin and from the power of Sathan to God otherwise your sins and your evill deeds which now ye love rather then the Light which reproves them will be sufficient to sinke ye downe into hell and into the pit of perdition I say now is the day of the Lords visitation of his grace and mercy and love to your souls that he would not have any of you to perish but all to come to the knowledge of his truth which would surely save you and set you free Every one therefore seriously to sit downe and consider where ye have been and what ye have been doing and what ye are doing and what ye have gotten and what ye doe possesse of all that which ye have made profession of and what assurance ye have of the health and welfare and salvarion of your soules and what certain Evidence and testimony ye have thereof in your selves and to your selves For that alone will stand you in stead and be your comfort and stay in time of trouble and in the houre of tempration and when ye come to lye upon your death-beds when all things else will fayle you and yeeld ye no comfort nor helpe nay your teachers whom ye have so long been following cannot helpe you nor comfort you if ye have not the witnesse in your selves and testimony of Gods Spirit to beare witnesse with your spirits that ye are the Children of God all your profession will be nothing
spirit which confelseth him come in the flesh who walke harmlesly innocently and righteously before all men in meeknesse in patience in humillity in lowlinesse in truth and uprightnesse before the Lord in all their dealing and abide in Christs Doctrine to speake the truth in all their communications their yea to be yea and their nay nay who will not swear nor lye nor cozen nor cheat nor defraud their neighbours who are no fighters nor quarellers who resist not evill but doe good for evill and pray for enemies and blesse them that curse them who are not in the envy and hatred and malice and persecution but are persecuted for righteousnesse sake who covets no mans silver nor gold that are willing to deny themselves and their reputations in the world and forsake the worlds friendships to follow Christ and suffer the losse of all for Christs sake and the Gospell Now are not those grievous Wolvs Antichrists that turn against such and rent such c. I say are not these the grievous Wolves that are entered and the Antichrists that are gone out into the world And is there not now very many of them Antichrists and Wolves in Sheeps cloathing among the Professors and the Apostate Christians or Antichristians Who are out of the life of Christ and the true Christians Such are not with Christ but against him and such gathereth not with him but scattereth and rents and tears his Lambs and Sheep and persecutes Christ and his Church the true Christians who are followers of him and are gathered to him by his Spirit in them And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Now the Antichrists who are gone out into the World and the Wolves come in Sheeps cloathing who inwardly are ravening Wolves these have not the Spirit of Christ in them nor are his and so do turne against him and his and they are of another spirit which their fruits doe make manifest whereby they may easily be known The true Christians knew them so merly and did bear their testimony against them so we know them now and have and doe beare our testimony against them for their fruits have appeared more plainly in this then in any age since the Arostles dayes Therefore now come all ye Priests Teachers and Professors in the world who are called Christians try your selves and examine your selves and see what spirit ye are of who act these things before mentioned against the true Christians and Sheep of Christ who by you in scorne are called Quakers who hear his voyce and follow him and yet ye confesse Christ in words to be come in the flesh But what spirit is this in you by which ye are led to act these things wherein ye are now found Is this the Spirit of Christ or the spirit of Antichrist gone out into the world which lyes in the wickednesse where there is many Antichrists and the world hears them for they are of its own but who are true Christians and followers of Christ Jesus who is not of this World and are led by his Spirit these the World will not hear nay the Priests and Professors therein but cry against them and speake all manner of evill against them falsely for Christs sake by whose spirit they are gathered out of the world and say hang them away with them they are not fit to live upon the earth and so would murder and kill and destroy By this we know that this spirit is not of God nor doth confess Christ come in the flesh but denyes him who came not to kill but to save mens lives and to destroy the Devill who was a murderer from the beginning and therefore we cannot beleeve that spirit but deny it and declare against it to be that spirit of Antichrist gone out into the World and the same spirit that was in the Scribes and Pharisees and Jewes who would have Jesus crucified Barrabbas released who was a Robber for he was of their own spirit and therefore they chused him before Jesus who was of another Spirit and bore witness against them for their hypocrisie and therefore they hated him And so now they that are of God in the Spirit of truth have tryed this spirit which the Priests are in now and have found it to be the spirit of errour which neither knoweth God nor loveth him For he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love And so all who are found persecuting for conscience sake and compelling men to sweare and to worship God in their wayes which they have set up and hating and envying of people and reviling and reproaching for matter of Religion and worship c. are found to be of that spirit which is not of God which loves not nor knows not God who is love but is of the Devill who was a Murtherer from the beginning and a Lyar from the beginning and the father of all lyars and murtherers and Persecutors and envious ones who is out of the Truth from whence all lyes and murther and envy and pride and hatred and persecution and strife and emulations and enmity cometh and all the deeds of darknesse And he is the god of the world who hath blinded the minds of all men of the World that beleeve not lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ who is the Image of God should shine in them So he it is that makes people darke and blind to worke the works of darknesse and to act as blind men where they are walking in the darknesse and love it and put darknesse for light call good evill and evill good and know not whither they go nor know not the truth nor the way of God but persecute it and call it errour and heresie as it was in all ages past even so it is now for Truth was never persecuted under the name of Truth but of erruor and they who did persecute it were alwayes blind will be for they are out of the Truth and therefore they know it not as the Jewes did not know Christ for if they had known him they would not have crucified the Lord of life saith the Apostle So all the worlds Professors now are blind who doe persecute they are all groaping in the dark as the men of Sodom did who wearied themselves to find Lots doore Gen. 19.11 And so it hath been in the World in all their professions that hath beâ— since the dayes of the Apostles they have been fighting and â—â—â—ing and persecuting one another and hating and speaking evill one of another and even wearyed themselves by setting up of this forme and that forme of worship and making Lawes to compell to them which they have called Church Discipline and by running from one way of worship to another and from Mountain to Hill and have been climbing till they are weary and groaping in the dark till they are weary to
the Saints formerly and the testimony thereof we know is true and your deceit and hypocrisie comes to be laid open as theirs were whom ye have been crying against for many yeares the Scribes and Pharisees and Jewes who crucified Christ and killed the Saints and Prophets and have been envying against them and have a Law made that none of the Jewes should come into this Nation c. and speake against them as they did against the false Prophets and their fore-fathers that slew the true Prophets and said if they had been in the dayes of their fore-fathers they would not have done so but Christ told them not withstanding that they were the Children of them that killed the Prophets and they built their Tombs and garnished the Sepulchers of the righteous And he called them Whited Walls and painted Sepulchers and Serpents and a generation of Vipers c. Therefore come now ye Professors and Teachers and Priests own your fore-fathers the Scribes and Pharisees and Jewes which are gone before you whom ye have cryed against and said ye would not have done as they did And yet have ye not done and are doing many of the same things as they did in persecuting of the righteous for now have ye not slaine the Prophet in you which Moses spake of Saying Like unto me will the Lord raise up a Prophet in the midst of you him ye shall hear in all things c. And are ye not slaying and persecuring the righteous and killing the just who doth not resist you and are painting and garnishing the Sepulchers and building the Tombs of the Prophet and of the righteous And are in your faire outside Worships as they were to be seen of men and crying 〈◊〉 this Forme and the other Forme of Church government and this Ordinance and the other Ordinance and this way of Worship and the other way of Worship and crying up this Learned man and the other Rabbi and are in your Observations as they were and have set up the Jewes Tythes which were to the first Priesthood and so deny Christ Jesus the second Priesthood and have set up Sacraments and Sabboths and Schools and Colledges and Churches which God never commanded and giving them Saints names as the Papists do and call the Papists old Masse-houses Churches and so are crying up dead things and dead Names and Ordinances of men and Doctrines of men and things which may be touched tasted and handled which all perish with the using And by these things have ye kept people in the Death while they have seemed to live and have made a great stirre and bustle in the World for many hundreds of yeares by crying them up and setting them up and your Ministry or Ministers as the Oracles of God and the maintenance for them and have killed some for witnessing against these things and have been ready to kill one another about these things and could not agree about them and one hath built a Wall and another hath dawbed with untempered Morter and so have been dawbing and dawbing to keep it up from falling and whiteing of it to make it appear beautifull to please men and to be seen of men And all this invented Worship and Imitations which ye have set up and brought people into are but as so many Tombes and Sepulchers of the righteous and these have been cryed up by the Priests for Divine Institutions and Orthodox and Canonical and whiteed over with large Pretences and plausible Arguments and undeniable Consequences as they have called them and the poor people have received all this for Gospell and Ordinances of Christ and of his Church as if Christ had been there present who is the true Prophet and the Righteous Seed which the Promise is to when as there was nothing but Tombes and Sepulchers of the Prophets and of the Righteous which they had garnished And so people while ye have been in these things ye have been all in the darknesse and in the Death and have been all as Graves which men goe over unawares being erred from the Spirit which quickens and makes alive which Spirit was in the Prophets by which they Prophesied and declared forth the Truth which came to passe accordingly to the Jewes That in seeing they should see and not perceive and in hearing they should hear but not understand which also is come to passe in these our dayes among all the Teachers and Professors who have been thus dawbing and building and painting the Tombes and Sepulchers and whiteing the Walls the just hath been killed and he hath not resisted you and the Prophet lyes flain in you all and ye understand not nor hear him nor see him neither have perceived nor known his Voyce who is the true Light that lighteth every one that all in the Light might beleeve him whom Moses said was like unto him whom the Lord would raise up a Prophet from the midst of them whom ye should hear in all things And it shall come to passe saith he that whosoever will not hearken unto this Prophet shall be cut off from amongst the people And so Moses saw and declared of concerning Christ that which ye do not know nor see nor hear though ye have long been talking of him and naming of his Name but it was but death speaking of the fame of Wisdome because ye have been erred from his Spirir which is the Spirit of truth which convinceth the World of sin and reproves them for sin but this the World cannot receive which doth reprove them for their sins and evill deeds because they love their sins and evill deeds and not God Now they that love the Lord hate evill but he that loves not God nor receives the Light of Christ nor beleeves in it which is the true Pro and faithfull Witnesse of God he loves his evill deeds but hates the Light which reproves him for his sins and evill deeds and therefore the Light is his condemnation as Christ saith and so this is not their Comforter who beleeve not but love their evill deeds But this is he whom we have received and followed even Christ Jesus who is come a Light into the World and denyed our selves and our own Wills for him and taken up his Crosse and we know the Prophet raised the Spirit of truth come which is our Comforter in all our troubles and leads us into all truth and brings all things to our remembrance and knowledg which were spoken before by the Prophets Christ and the Saints which Spirit is in us which was made manifest in the flesh and dwelt amongst the Saints and they saw his Glory who was the begotten Son of God and did hear Testimony of him who said unto them who beleeved in him I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Even the Spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive Mark Because it